Saturday, April 19, 2014

Time to act on filling in the rough spots! (July, September, December)




About a year or so ago, we communicated two more initiatives that made it through our testing gauntlet with positive results. Many initiatives start out as great ideas, few make it through testing. These two did provide consistent/positive results market to market. The reason we are bringing this up again is because this is the time to prepare.

For many of you, the months of July, September, and December are low production points of your year. What would your end of year production look like if those months were just average, instead of being low? For many/most of you, it would add about 10% to your end of year top line.

Pedo/Ortho in July & September

Pedo and ortho focused advertising in July and August will respond in greater numbers and frequency than promoting general dentistry (all of it) in July. It makes sense. The kiddies are at home. Mom doesn't have to pull them from school to get them to your practice. So, if you reach out in July and August to attract children to your practice - you will be ahead in those months.

This is especially effective if you do ortho. You can get through the initial exams in the summer and start the cases in September (which will make September better). Talk to almost any orthodontist, they will tell you September is one of their best months of the year - consistently.

With this advertising push, you are leveraging weather, convenience, urgency. Mom knows the weather is better in the summer than the winter, she knows it is MUCH more convenient for her to get her children to you when they are off from school, and she certainly knows that eventually - school will begin again. She has a known deadline if she wants to make things easy for herself.

Typically a series of three very specifically targeted rounds of post cards will do the trick. If you hit the streets with them the 2nd week of July, the first week of August, and the 3rd week of August (consult your school calendar and adjust drops accordingly), you have a very good chance of inexpensively capturing a very important segment of the dental market.

We understand many of you who have practiced for a while, aren't necessarily jumping at the idea of bringing a bunch of kids into your practice. But, the kids come first, mom comes second, and dad comes kicking and screaming - 6 months later. You know how it works. If this is something you simply cannot do, or do not want to deal with - don't do it! Just be realistic with your adult new patient numbers if you purposely cut off this proven way of getting more adult new patients.


Insured - between Nov 15th and December 31st

The time between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day requires a time sensitive incentive. Mom has a billion distractions during the holiday time period. She needs an added incentive to respond. Many/most of you already send some sort of "use it or lose it" insurance email or letter to your existing patients. Many/most of you have added production to your schedules by doing so. The same can be done with the general public! You don't have to limit your exposure to just your own patients. Everyone in town is going to have their insurance benefits renew on Jan 1. The general public responds to that sense of urgency as well, especially if you are already promoting to the same targets throughout the year. Many of you are already mailing. For you, we already have a properly targeted mail list, so you won't have to buy another one.


Who at NPI should I reach out to if I want to smooth out my rough spots?

Your advisors are responsible for analyzing your marketing opportunities then setting up the best strategy for your particular situation/market.


Advisors:

Jay Ostendarp - jay@newpatientsinc.com  
Jane Kriensky - jck@newpatientsinc.com   
Lee Buzard - lee@newpatientsinc.com  
Rebecca Palmer - rebecca@newpatientsinc.com   

All of the advisors can be reached by calling 866.336.8237

If you are a client of NPI already, your client services/campaign managers can also help you. They work hand in hand with the advisors.

Campaign Managers:

Kimberly Rivera - kr@newpatientsinc.com  - 702.221.2184
Olive Ashwell - olive@newpatientsinc.com  - 702.221.2184

The whole team at NPI would like to wish you and yours a wonderful holiday weekend!


Do you have a topic you would like covered in an upcoming newsletter? Ask here. 

Just email either Howie Horrocks (whh@newpatientsinc.com) or Mark Dilatush (markd@newpatientsinc.com) with your topic. We will get them into the newsletter.

 
If any of you need us, just call 866.336.8237. We will be here for you.

Got questions? Want to learn more?   

You can reach Mark & Howie at:
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